Engagement Ring

Melissa,

Buying an engagement ring can be a duanting task. There are many considerations beyond price you`ll need to be aware of.

First, ask around. Find out which jeweler your firends and family use. A reputable and trustworthy jeweler is worth their weight in gold (no pun intended).

Next, you`ll need to set your budget, have an idea of what you can afford and would like to spend. Typically, your fiance is expected to spend 3 months salary for your ring.

Third, you`ll need to know these ring basics, the 4c`s:
CUT - refers to the shape of the diamond; round, marquis, emerald cut or pear, etc. Round is the traditional choice and the most brilliant cut.
COLOR - refers to the color of the diamond. Traditionally a white diamond is chosen, but within the white category their are different levels of white. Teh whiter or clearer the color, the more precious it is and therefore more expensive (simply put, a "white" diamond that has a yellow tint is not good).
CLARITY - because diamonds are a natural stone, they have imperfections, pieces of black carbon and "feathers" are the flaws in the stone. The fewer the flaws, the better the diamond. If you want a more reasonable priced stone, look for one that has flaws, but are invisible to the "naked eye". This means, you can`t see it when you look at it, but a jeweler can with aloupe, magnifying glass.
Carat - refers to the size or weight of the diamond. A full carat is 100 points, a half carat is .50, etc. If you are looking at rings with multiple stones, be sure you ask what the center stone size is and not just the "total" carat weight.

It`s complicated, but a reputable jeweler can help you find the right ring for you. Take your time and don`t be pushed into a ring you can`t afford, you can always "trade up" to a larger or better quality stone on an anniversary.

If you have more questions, feel free to e-mail me at mansurfamily@hotmail.com.

Good Luck.
~Karen

Thanks so much, Karen. That really helped me. Would you recommend going to famous jewelers (Helzberg Diamonds, Zales, etc...) or not so famous jewelers?

Melissa,
Chain stores, like the ones you mentioned don`t neccessarily guarantee quality for price. I`ve worked for chains and for family businesses and I find family businesses more willing to be honest and helpful, because they have more to loose. However, it`s not always the case. You really need to ask around to friends, neighbors, co-workers, etc.

~Karen

Hi Melissa,
Karen gave you great advice for diamond. I just got engagement and me and my fiance` spend alot of time to research for it. Remember when you buy a ring you better ask for the certificate of the loose diamond. Such as GIA or ELG ect. And also ask someone (friends, relatives) that know a bit about diamond. I wish you luck.
Ps we spent so much time to research about diamond. Internet veryhelpful.

Mine got my gorgeous ring at Zales and I always get compliments so go with what you can afford and not what will put you in debt. We looked around at a lot of stores before we made our descision. It`s great when both can descide on the ring.

Good advice from the others. Just wanted to add that, if you do care about the quality of the diamond, make sure to really look at it under a magnifying glass (or better, microscope). A good jewelry store should be more than willing to do that for you. I recently bought some engagement jewelry for my fiancee and was really amazed at how many people walked into the jewelry store, glanced at a few rings, picked the one they liked best, forked over hundreds or perhaps thousands of dollars, and left, without even examining what they were buying. Of course, what really matters is how you like how it looks on your hand (none of your acquaintances is ever going to see the ring under a magnifying glass), but examining the stone closely is a way to tell whether or not they`re charging you too much for that look that you like, by insisting that those gems that you like are higher quality than they are.
Inspecting the gems is really not that hard. Flaws in the gem are often fairly apparent under magnification. Real gem experts know far more than I about how to appraise stones, but nonetheless, there`s still a lot that you can find out just by looking, without much prior knowledge.
(Also spending time looking at the gem gives you more time to think about whether or not you really want it and it makes the sales representative more hesitant to make sweeping and unfounded claims, because he starts to think that you know what you`re doing. Often the sales representatives don`t know vast ammounts about gems themselves. In one -quite reputable- store, I had a sales rep mistake rubies for garnets, and in several places sales reps were ready to claim that stones were naturally occurring until I actually asked them to check and see if they were lab-made, because they looked lab-made to me [this is usually pretty easy to spot with coloured gems; I wouldn`t have the first idea how to do it with diamonds.])
Also, sometimes a gem will seem to have a small internal fracture when you see it magnified. With diamonds I think this is something to be careful about, because though diamonds are very strong, they do have a fracture plane (one specific angle at which, if they`re hit, they`ll split) and I guess (correct me those of you who know this stuff better) that that might mean the diamond was already partly fractured.
Also, if you`d like a really nice ring, but don`t want to spend a fortune, you can think about whether or not you really want the stone to be a diamond. (There`s no law that says it has to be; Princess Diana, for example, had a sapphire.) Some people care more about its being a diamond than its quality. If so fine, whatever floats your boat, but if you`re the opposite, and the clarity and lack of flaws is more important to you than the colour, think about other precious gems. For example, sapphires and rubies (actually the same stone in different colours) are very strong stones, though not quite as hard as diamonds. My fiancee decided that she wanted a sapphire, so that we could get a fairly good gem, and that we`d use the money we would have spent on a diamond (hard to estimate, of course) on spondoring a needy child. It seemed to us to be better symbolism of what we want our marriage to be about.
Anyway, sorry to ramble. I hope the search goes well, and congratulations on the engagement.